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Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) is a technique routinely used by many laboratories to determine the chromosomal position of DNA and RNA probes. One important application of this method is the development of high-quality physical maps useful for improving the genome assemblies for various organisms. The natural banding pattern of polytene and mitotic chromosomes provides guidance for the precise ordering and orientation of the genomic supercontigs. Among the three mosquito genera, namely Anopheles, Aedes, and Culex, a well-established chromosome-based mapping technique has been developed only for Anopheles, whose members possess readable polytene chromosomes 1. As a result of genome mapping efforts, 88% of the An. gambiae genome has been placed to precise chromosome positions 2,3 . Two other mosquito genera, Aedes and Culex, have poorly polytenized chromosomes because of significant overrepresentation of transposable elements in their genomes 4, 5, 6. Only 31 and 9% of the genomic supercontings have been assigned without order or orientation to chromosomes of Ae. aegypti 7 and Cx.quinquefasciatus 8, respectively. Mitotic chromosome preparation for these two species had previously been limited to brain ganglia and cell lines. However, chromosome slides prepared from the brain ganglia of mosquitoes usually contain low numbers of metaphase plates 9. Also, although a FISH technique has been developed for mitotic chromosomes from a cell line of Ae. aegypti 10, the accumulation of multiple chromosomal rearrangements in cell line chromosomes 11 makes them useless for genome mapping. Here we describe a simple, robust technique for obtaining high-quality mitotic chromosome preparations from imaginal discs (IDs) of 4th instar larvae which can be used for all three genera of mosquitoes. A standard FISH protocol 12 is optimized for using BAC clones of genomic DNA as a probe on mitotic chromosomes of Ae. aegypti andCx.quinquefasciatus, and for utilizing an intergenic spacer (IGS) region of ribosomal DNA (rDNA) as a probe on An. gambiae chromosomes. In addition to physical mapping, the developed technique can be applied to population cytogenetics and chromosome taxonomy/systematics of mosquitoes and other insect groups.

New techniques and methods are being sought to try to win the battle against mosquitoes. Recent advances in molecular techniques have led to the development of new and innovative methods of mosquito control based around the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT)1-3. A control method known as RIDL (Release of Insects carrying a Dominant Lethal)4, is based around SIT, but uses genetic methods to remove the need for radiation-sterilization5-8. A RIDL strain of Ae. aegypti was successfully tested in the field in Grand Cayman9,10; further field use is planned or in progress in other countries around the world.
Mass rearing of insects has been established in several insect species and to levels of billions a week. However, in mosquitoes, rearing has generally been performed on a much smaller scale, with most large scale rearing being performed in the 1970s and 80s. For a RIDL program it is desirable to release as few females as possible as they bite and transmit disease. In a mass rearing program there are several stages to produce the males to be released: egg production, rearing eggs until pupation, and then sorting males from females before release. These males are then used for a RIDL control program, released as either pupae or adults11,12.
To suppress a mosquito population using RIDL a large number of high quality male adults need to be reared13,14. The following describes the methods for the mass rearing of OX513A, a RIDL strain of Ae. aegypti 8, for release and covers the techniques required for the production of eggs and mass rearing RIDL males for a control program.

Fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) of whole arm chromosome probes is a robust technique for mapping genomic regions of interest, detecting chromosomal rearrangements, and studying three-dimensional (3D) organization of chromosomes in the cell nucleus. The advent of laser capture microdissection (LCM) and whole genome amplification (WGA) allows obtaining large quantities of DNA from single cells. The increased sensitivity of WGA kits prompted us to develop chromosome paints and to use them for exploring chromosome organization and evolution in non-model organisms. Here, we present a simple method for isolating and amplifying the euchromatic segments of single polytene chromosome arms from ovarian nurse cells of the African malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae. This procedure provides an efficient platform for obtaining chromosome paints, while reducing the overall risk of introducing foreign DNA to the sample. The use of WGA allows for several rounds of re-amplification, resulting in high quantities of DNA that can be utilized for multiple experiments, including 2D and 3D FISH. We demonstrated that the developed chromosome paints can be successfully used to establish the correspondence between euchromatic portions of polytene and mitotic chromosome arms in An. gambiae. Overall, the union of LCM and single-chromosome WGA provides an efficient tool for creating significant amounts of target DNA for future cytogenetic and genomic studies.

The mosquito gut accommodates dynamic microbial communities across different stages of the insect's life cycle. Characterization of the genetic capacity and functionality of the gut community will provide insight into the effects of gut microbiota on mosquito life traits. Metagenomic RNA-Seq has become an important tool to analyze transcriptomes from various microbes present in a microbial community. Messenger RNA usually comprises only 1-3% of total RNA, while rRNA constitutes approximately 90%. It is challenging to enrich messenger RNA from a metagenomic microbial RNA sample because most prokaryotic mRNA species lack stable poly(A) tails. This prevents oligo d(T) mediated mRNA isolation. Here, we describe a protocol that employs sample derived rRNA capture probes to remove rRNA from a metagenomic total RNA sample. To begin, both mosquito and microbial small and large subunit rRNA fragments are amplified from a metagenomic community DNA sample. Then, the community specific biotinylated antisense ribosomal RNA probes are synthesized in vitro using T7 RNA polymerase. The biotinylated rRNA probes are hybridized to the total RNA. The hybrids are captured by streptavidin-coated beads and removed from the total RNA. This subtraction-based protocol efficiently removes both mosquito and microbial rRNA from the total RNA sample. The mRNA enriched sample is further processed for RNA amplification and RNA-Seq.

A technique for laboratory estimation of net trophic transfer efficiency (γ) of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners to piscivorous fish from their prey is described herein. During a 135-day laboratory experiment, we fed bloater (Coregonus hoyi) that had been caught in Lake Michigan to lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) kept in eight laboratory tanks. Bloater is a natural prey for lake trout. In four of the tanks, a relatively high flow rate was used to ensure relatively high activity by the lake trout, whereas a low flow rate was used in the other four tanks, allowing for low lake trout activity. On a tank-by-tank basis, the amount of food eaten by the lake trout on each day of the experiment was recorded. Each lake trout was weighed at the start and end of the experiment. Four to nine lake trout from each of the eight tanks were sacrificed at the start of the experiment, and all 10 lake trout remaining in each of the tanks were euthanized at the end of the experiment. We determined concentrations of 75 PCB congeners in the lake trout at the start of the experiment, in the lake trout at the end of the experiment, and in bloaters fed to the lake trout during the experiment. Based on these measurements, γ was calculated for each of 75 PCB congeners in each of the eight tanks. Mean γ was calculated for each of the 75 PCB congeners for both active and inactive lake trout. Because the experiment was replicated in eight tanks, the standard error about mean γ could be estimated. Results from this type of experiment are useful in risk assessment models to predict future risk to humans and wildlife eating contaminated fish under various scenarios of environmental contamination.

In the following we describe the methodological details of appetitive associative olfactory learning in Drosophila larvae. The setup, in combination with genetic interference, provides a handle to analyze the neuronal and molecular fundamentals of specifically associative learning in a simple larval brain.
Organisms can use past experience to adjust present behavior. Such acquisition of behavioral potential can be defined as learning, and the physical bases of these potentials as memory traces1-4. Neuroscientists try to understand how these processes are organized in terms of molecular and neuronal changes in the brain by using a variety of methods in model organisms ranging from insects to vertebrates5,6. For such endeavors it is helpful to use model systems that are simple and experimentally accessible. The Drosophila larva has turned out to satisfy these demands based on the availability of robust behavioral assays, the existence of a variety of transgenic techniques and the elementary organization of the nervous system comprising only about 10,000 neurons (albeit with some concessions: cognitive limitations, few behavioral options, and richness of experience questionable)7-10.
Drosophila larvae can form associations between odors and appetitive gustatory reinforcement like sugar11-14. In a standard assay, established in the lab of B. Gerber, animals receive a two-odor reciprocal training: A first group of larvae is exposed to an odor A together with a gustatory reinforcer (sugar reward) and is subsequently exposed to an odor B without reinforcement 9. Meanwhile a second group of larvae receives reciprocal training while experiencing odor A without reinforcement and subsequently being exposed to odor B with reinforcement (sugar reward). In the following both groups are tested for their preference between the two odors. Relatively higher preferences for the rewarded odor reflect associative learning - presented as a performance index (PI). The conclusion regarding the associative nature of the performance index is compelling, because apart from the contingency between odors and tastants, other parameters, such as odor and reward exposure, passage of time and handling do not differ between the two groups9.

Photoperiodic diapause is an important adaptation that allows individuals to escape harsh seasonal environments via a series of physiological changes, most notably developmental arrest and reduced metabolism. Global gene expression profiling via RNA-Seq can provide important insights into the transcriptional mechanisms of photoperiodic diapause. The Asian tiger mosquito, Aedes albopictus, is an outstanding organism for studying the transcriptional bases of diapause due to its ease of rearing, easily induced diapause, and the genomic resources available. This manuscript presents a general experimental workflow for identifying diapause-induced transcriptional differences in A. albopictus. Rearing techniques, conditions necessary to induce diapause and non-diapause development, methods to estimate percent diapause in a population, and RNA extraction and integrity assessment for mosquitoes are documented. A workflow to process RNA-Seq data from Illumina sequencers culminates in a list of differentially expressed genes. The representative results demonstrate that this protocol can be used to effectively identify genes differentially regulated at the transcriptional level in A. albopictus due to photoperiodic differences. With modest adjustments, this workflow can be readily adapted to study the transcriptional bases of diapause or other important life history traits in other mosquitoes.

Institutions: Edith Cowan University, Graylands Hospital, University of Western Australia, McCusker Alzheimer's Research foundation, University of Western Australia , University of Adelaide, Curtin University of Technology, University of Western Australia .

This protocol describes regular care and maintenance of a zebrafish laboratory. Zebrafish are now gaining popularity in genetics, pharmacological and behavioural research. As a vertebrate, zebrafish share considerable genetic sequence similarity with humans and are being used as an animal model for various human disease conditions. The advantages of zebrafish in comparison to other common vertebrate models include high fecundity, low maintenance cost, transparent embryos, and rapid development. Due to the spur of interest in zebrafish research, the need to establish and maintain a productive zebrafish housing facility is also increasing. Although literature is available for the maintenance of a zebrafish laboratory, a concise video protocol is lacking. This video illustrates the protocol for regular housing, feeding, breeding and raising of zebrafish larvae. This process will help researchers to understand the natural behaviour and optimal conditions of zebrafish husbandry and hence troubleshoot experimental issues that originate from the fish husbandry conditions. This protocol will be of immense help to researchers planning to establish a zebrafish laboratory, and also to graduate students who are intending to use zebrafish as an animal model.

The zebrafish has emerged as a powerful model organism for studying intestinal development1-5, physiology6-11, disease12-16, and host-microbe interactions17-25. Experimental approaches for studying intestinal biology often require the in vivo introduction of selected materials into the lumen of the intestine. In the larval zebrafish model, this is typically accomplished by immersing fish in a solution of the selected material, or by injection through the abdominal wall. Using the immersion method, it is difficult to accurately monitor or control the route or timing of material delivery to the intestine. For this reason, immersion exposure can cause unintended toxicity and other effects on extraintestinal tissues, limiting the potential range of material amounts that can be delivered into the intestine. Also, the amount of material ingested during immersion exposure can vary significantly between individual larvae26. Although these problems are not encountered during direct injection through the abdominal wall, proper injection is difficult and causes tissue damage which could influence experimental results.We introduce a method for microgavage of zebrafish larvae. The goal of this method is to provide a safe, effective, and consistent way to deliver material directly to the lumen of the anterior intestine in larval zebrafish with controlled timing. Microgavage utilizes standard embryo microinjection and stereomicroscopy equipment common to most laboratories that perform zebrafish research. Once fish are properly positioned in methylcellulose, gavage can be performed quickly at a rate of approximately 7-10 fish/ min, and post-gavage survival approaches 100% depending on the gavaged material. We also show that microgavage can permit loading of the intestinal lumen with high concentrations of materials that are lethal to fish when exposed by immersion. To demonstrate the utility of this method, we present a fluorescent dextran microgavage assay that can be used to quantify transit from the intestinal lumen to extraintestinal spaces. This test can be used to verify proper execution of the microgavage procedure, and also provides a novel zebrafish assay to examine intestinal epithelial barrier integrity under different experimental conditions (e.g. genetic manipulation, drug treatment, or exposure to environmental factors). Furthermore, we show how gavage can be used to evaluate intestinal motility by gavaging fluorescent microspheres and monitoring their subsequent transit. Microgavage can be applied to deliver diverse materials such as live microorganisms, secreted microbial factors/toxins, pharmacological agents, and physiological probes. With these capabilities, the larval zebrafish microgavage method has the potential to enhance a broad range of research fields using the zebrafish model system.

Hybridization in situ of Salivary Glands, Ovaries, and Embryos of Vector Mosquitoes

Authors: Jennifer Juhn, Anthony A. James.

Institutions: University of California, Irvine, University of California, Irvine.

Mosquitoes are vectors for a diverse set of pathogens including arboviruses, protozoan parasites and nematodes. Investigation of transcripts and gene regulators that are expressed in tissues in which the mosquito host and pathogen interact, and in organs involved in reproduction are of great interest for strategies to reduce mosquito-borne disease transmission and disrupt egg development. A number of tools have been employed to study and validate the temporal and tissue-specific regulation of gene expression. Here, we describe protocols that have been developed to obtain spatial information, which enhances our understanding of where specific genes are expressed and their products accumulate. The protocol described has been used to validate expression and determine accumulation patterns of transcripts in tissues related to mosquito-borne pathogen transmission, such as female salivary glands, as well as subcellular compartments of ovaries and embryos, which relate to mosquito reproduction and development.
The following procedures represent an optimized methodology that improves the efficiency of various steps in the protocol without loss of target-specific hybridization signals. Guidelines for RNA probe preparation, dissection of soft tissues and the general procedure for fixation and hybridization are described in Part A, while steps specific for the collection, fixation, pre-hybridization and hybridization of mosquito embryos are detailed in Part B.

Single Sensillum Recordings in the Insects Drosophila melanogaster and Anopheles gambiae

Authors: Maurizio Pellegrino, Takao Nakagawa, Leslie B. Vosshall.

Institutions: Rockefeller University.

The sense of smell is essential for insects to find foods, mates, predators, and oviposition sites3. Insect olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) are enclosed in sensory hairs called sensilla, which cover the surface of olfactory organs. The surface of each sensillum is covered with tiny pores, through which odorants pass and dissolve in a fluid called sensillum lymph, which bathes the sensory dendrites of the OSNs housed in a given sensillum. The OSN dendrites express odorant receptor (OR) proteins, which in insects function as odor-gated ion channels4, 5. The interaction of odorants with ORs either increases or decreases the basal firing rate of the OSN. This neuronal activity in the form of action potentials embodies the first representation of the quality, intensity, and temporal characteristics of the odorant6, 7.
Given the easy access to these sensory hairs, it is possible to perform extracellular recordings from single OSNs by introducing a recording electrode into the sensillum lymph, while the reference electrode is placed in the lymph of the eye or body of the insect. In Drosophila, sensilla house between one and four OSNs, but each OSN typically displays a characteristic spike amplitude. Spike sorting techniques make it possible to assign spiking responses to individual OSNs. This single sensillum recording (SSR) technique monitors the difference in potential between the sensillum lymph and the reference electrode as electrical spikes that are generated by the receptor activity on OSNs1, 2, 8. Changes in the number of spikes in response to the odorant represent the cellular basis of odor coding in insects. Here, we describe the preparation method currently used in our lab to perform SSR on Drosophila melanogaster and Anopheles gambiae, and show representative traces induced by the odorants in a sensillum-specific manner.

Once a gene is identified as potentially refractory for malaria, it must be evaluated for its role in preventing Plasmodium infections within the mosquito. This protocol illustrates how the extent of plasmodium infections of mosquitoes can be assayed. The techniques for preparing the gametocyte culture, membrane feeding mosquitoes human blood, and assaying viral titers in the mosquito midgut are demonstrated.

Institutions: University of California, Riverside, University of California, Riverside, University of São Paulo - USP, ISCA Technologies.

An inexpensive, noninvasive system that could accurately classify flying insects would have important implications for entomological research, and allow for the development of many useful applications in vector and pest control for both medical and agricultural entomology. Given this, the last sixty years have seen many research efforts devoted to this task. To date, however, none of this research has had a lasting impact. In this work, we show that pseudo-acoustic optical sensors can produce superior data; that additional features, both intrinsic and extrinsic to the insect’s flight behavior, can be exploited to improve insect classification; that a Bayesian classification approach allows to efficiently learn classification models that are very robust to over-fitting, and a general classification framework allows to easily incorporate arbitrary number of features. We demonstrate the findings with large-scale experiments that dwarf all previous works combined, as measured by the number of insects and the number of species considered.

Fopius arisanus (Sonan) is an important parasitoid of Tephritid fruit flies for at least two reasons. First, it is the one of only three opiine parasitoids known to infect the host during the egg stage1. Second, it has a wide range of potential fruit fly hosts. Perhaps due to its life history, F. arisanus has been a successfully used for biological control of fruit flies in multiple tropical regions2-4. One impediment to the wide use of F. arisanus for fruit fly control is that it is difficult to establish a stable laboratory colony5-9. Despite this difficulty, in the 1990s USDA researchers developed a reliable method to maintain laboratory populations of F. arisanus10-12. There is significant interest in F. arisanus biology13,14, especially regarding its ability to colonize a wide variety of Tephritid hosts14-17; interest is especially driven by the alarming spread of Bactrocera fruit fly pests to new continents in the last decade18. Further research on F. arisanus and additional deployments of this species as a biological control agent will benefit from optimizations and improvements of rearing methods. In this protocol and associated video article we describe an optimized method for rearing F. arisanus based on a previously described approach12. The method we describe here allows rearing of F. arisanus in a small scale without the use of fruit, using materials available in tropical regions around the world and with relatively low manual labor requirements.

The Structure of Skilled Forelimb Reaching in the Rat: A Movement Rating Scale

Authors: Ian Q Whishaw, Paul Whishaw, Bogdan Gorny.

Institutions: University of Lethbridge.

Skilled reaching for food is an evolutionary ancient act and is displayed by many animal species, including those in the sister clades of rodents and primates. The video describes a test situation that allows filming of repeated acts of reaching for food by the rat that has been mildly food deprived. A rat is trained to reach through a slot in a holding box for food pellet that it grasps and then places in its mouth for eating. Reaching is accomplished in the main by proximally driven movements of the limb but distal limb movements are used for pronating the paw, grasping the food, and releasing the food into the mouth. Each reach is divided into at least 10 movements of the forelimb and the reaching act is facilitated by postural adjustments. Each of the movements is described and examples of the movements are given from a number of viewing perspectives. By rating each movement element on a 3-point scale, the reach can be quantified. A number of studies have demonstrated that the movement elements are altered by motor system damage, including damage to the motor cortex, basal ganglia, brainstem, and spinal cord. The movements are also altered in neurological conditions that can be modeled in the rat, including Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease. Thus, the rating scale is useful for quantifying motor impairments and the effectiveness of neural restoration and rehabilitation. Because the reaching act for the rat is very similar to that displayed by humans and nonhuman primates, the scale can be used for comparative purposes. from a number of viewing perspectives. By rating each movement element on a 3-point scale, the reach can be quantified. A number of studies have demonstrated that the movement elements are altered by motor system damage, including damage to the motor cortex, basal ganglia, brainstem, and spinal cord. The movements are also altered in neurological conditions that can be modeled in the rat, including Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease. Thus, the rating scale is useful for quantifying motor impairments and the effectiveness of neural restoration and rehabilitation.
Experiments on animals were performed in accordance with the guidelines and regulations set forth by the University of Lethbridge Animal Care Committee in accordance with the regulations of the Canadian Council on Animal Care.

Building a Better Mosquito: Identifying the Genes Enabling Malaria and Dengue Fever Resistance in A. gambiae and A. aegypti Mosquitoes

Authors: George Dimopoulos.

Institutions: Johns Hopkins University.

In this interview, George Dimopoulos focuses on the physiological mechanisms used by mosquitoes to combat Plasmodium falciparum and dengue virus infections. Explanation is given for how key refractory genes, those genes conferring resistance to vector pathogens, are identified in the mosquito and how this knowledge can be used to generate transgenic mosquitoes that are unable to carry the malaria parasite or dengue virus.

Reverse genetic approaches have proven extremely useful for determining which genes underly resistance to vector pathogens in mosquitoes. This video protocol illustrates a method used by the Dimopoulos lab to inject dsRNA into Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes, which harbor the malaria parasite. The technique manipulating the injection setup and injecting dsRNA into the thorax is illustrated.

Charles Taylor and John Marshall explain the utility of mathematical modeling for evaluating the effectiveness of population replacement strategy. Insight is given into how computational models can provide information on the population dynamics of mosquitoes and the spread of transposable elements through A. gambiae subspecies. The ethical considerations of releasing genetically modified mosquitoes into the wild are discussed.

In this video protocol, procedures are demonstrated to (1) purify Wolbachia symbionts out of cultured mosquito cells, (2) use a fluorescent assay to ascertain the viability of the purified Wolbachia and (3) maintain the now extracellular Wolbachia in cell-free medium. Purified Wolbachia remain alive in the extracellular phase but do not replicate until re-inoculated into eukaryotic cells. Extracellular Wolbachia purified in this manner will remain viable for at least a week at room temperature, and possibly longer. Purified Wolbachia are suitable for micro-injection, DNA extraction and other applications.

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